Many people are susceptible to seizure, depending on the circumstances. A seizure is the uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain, which may produce convulsion, muscle twitch, and confusion, to name a few. The type of symptoms depends on where the abnormal electrical activity is occurring in the patient's brain, what its cause is, and such factors as patient age and overall health. Seizures can be caused by head injury, a brain tumor, heavy metal poisoning, infection, genetics, and fever. Febrile seizures are convulsions brought on by a fever in infants or children. Febrile seizures usually occur between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. Children rarely have their first febrile seizure before the age of 6 months or after 3 years of age. The older a child is when their first febrile seizure occurs, the less likely that the child will have another. During febrile seizure, it is common for the child to lose consciousness and shake. Less commonly, the child becomes rigid or twitches on the right or left side of their body. Some febrile seizure events can be as brief as a few seconds while others may last for more than 10 minutes. Most febrile seizures last only a minute or two.
Approximately 1 in 25 children will have a febrile seizure, many without even being aware that a seizure has occurred. More than ⅓ of this group of children will have multiple febrile seizures. A few factors appear to boost a child's risk of having recurrent febrile seizures, i.e., age (less than 15 months old) at the time of their first febrile seizure event, frequent high fevers, and a family history of febrile seizures. Febrile seizures most often occur during the first day of a child's fever. If the seizure occurs soon after a fever has begun or when the fever temperature is relatively low, the risk of recurrence is higher. Although a febrile seizure can be frightening, the vast majority of febrile seizures are relatively harmless however there is a risk that the child may be injured by falling or by choking if there is food in the mouth at the time of the seizure. There is no evidence that short febrile seizures cause brain damage. Children with febrile seizures have normal academic achievement when compared to children with no history of seizure. Most children recover completely but a few might be at risk of subsequent seizures without fever (epilepsy). Children having febrile seizures are not considered to have epilepsy because epileptic seizures are not triggered by fever. About 95 percent of children who experience febrile seizures do not develop epilepsy. Although the risk of developing epilepsy is quite small, some groups of children having febrile seizures such as those with cerebral palsy or other neurological conditions, have an increased risk of developing epilepsy. Children who have prolonged febrile seizures (i.e., those lasting longer than one hour) or seizures that affect only part of the body, or seizures that recur within 24 hours, are at a higher risk for epilepsy. It is rare that children who do not have any of the risk factors end up developing epilepsy. For more information, the reader is directed to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and, more particularly, to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Accordingly, what is desired in this art are increasingly sophisticated systems and methods for detecting febrile seizure.